Type 39:  AE4.  SALVS REIPVBLICAE
Victory left drags captive.
388-403  [RIC]     386-403 [DO, p. 113]
Struck for Valentinian II, Theodosius, Arcadius, and Honorius. Type 60, for Johannes and Theodosius II, is similar, but much cruder, and dates to the reign of Johannes, 423-425. This type is very common for Valentinian II, Theodosius, and Arcadius, but extremely rare in good condition for Honorius.

39     Theodosius, Heraclea

Valentinian II:   All Valentinian II images on one page.
Theodosius:  All Theodosius images on one page.
Arcadius and Honorius:  All Arcadius, Honorius, and imitation images on one page.

Comment:  However, the type is often in bad shape and only a small fraction (less than 10%?) of the examples have the mintmark clear. Pieces with nice grade with a full legend and clear mintmark are rare prizes. Examples that are 90% nice are not uncommon (but the mintmark or some legend will be flat or off the flan, see the above example which is better than 90% nice but still has a weak mintmark), but coins that are 99% nice are rare. Pieces that are 99% nice for Honorius are very rare indeed.


RIC IX photos:  V2-X.20 (Th), A-XVI.18 (Nic, with cross on shield left).
RIC X Arcadius 1327 ("Aquileia, C, 395-402". p.322), 1245-6 ("Rome, C2, S, AD 395-403." p. 324)
RIC X Honorius 1238 ("Aquileia, C, 395-402" p. 322), 1247-9 ("Rome, C2, C, R2, AD 395-403," p. 324 ")
RIC X, 2106 for Valentinian III is "R5" and, according to the footnote "perhaps a mule with Johannes reverse." It has cross-rho in field and "PLA" in the obverse legend, proving it is Valentianian III. But I do not think it is an official type belonging in the main table.

For Honorius, at Rome only, the obverse legend "DN ONORIVS PF AVG" without the "H" is found [RIC Rome 64e, C3, p. 134].  Pearce saw "many hundreds" at Richborough [p. 114]. In spite of those "many hundreds," this type for Honorius has certainly been rare in good condition in the trade.

DO for Arcadius: Very common, 47 pieces in Table 21, "Eastern AE4, 386-393," p. 113, none in Table 22, "Italian mints, 388-391," p. 114, 2 in Table 25, "Eastern AE, 393-395," none in Table 26, "Western, 392-395," and 3 in Table 31, "Western AE, 394-408 ["393-402"]," page 131.
DO for Honorius, 3 pieces in Table 35, "Eastern AE, 393-395," page 197, and none in Table 39, "Western AE, 395-423," "395-402(?) and 408-409," page 207.
    xx Why "386" for the beginning date in DOC?  Look this up.  

Cayon V2-75 (3 photos, Ant, xx, xx), T-70 (3 photos, Cyz, Con, xx), A-57 (2 photos, xx, Con), H-66,67 (0), T2-43 (0).
Hunter V2-84.37 (Her), V2-84.38 (Her), V2-84.44 (Cyz), T-86.42 (Con), A-92.23 (Her), A-93.41 (Cyz).
Ratto photos, Arcadius 93, 98, 101, 102.

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